Eat Your Heart Out, Guys

[finnbow]

My oldest son (the one living in Germany) is over in Israel for 6 weeks on business. Besides the ocean front resort they're putting him up in, he's getting to meet Hillary Clinton today in Jerusalem. I'm sure DJ, Whell, Mezz and others here are jealous.

Once he's done with the 6 week temporary stint in Israel, he gets to decide where he wants to go for his next 2 year assignment - Israel or Mons, Belgium. He's leaning pretty strongly towards Israel at the moment.

[d-ray657]

Congrats. What's the reason for his preference - to broaden his experience to cover different regions?

Regards,

D-Ray

[whell]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Besides the ocean front resort they're putting him up in, he's getting to meet Hillary Clinton today in Jerusalem. I'm sure DJ, Whell, Mezz and others here are jealous.

Nah. I'll join the "Monica!" chants and help throw a shoe or two.

Great news about your son, though!

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

Congrats. What's the reason for his preference - to broaden his experience to cover different regions?

Regards,

D-Ray

Feedback from friends of his (and mine who he knows) who have worked both places much preferred the work environment in Israel. In Belgium, Mons is located in Wallonia (the French part) and intergovernmental cooperation on American/NATO funded construction work there is complicated by the whole French vs. American culture thing. It's also a bit dreary and very expensive in Belgium.

In Israel, his job would be in support of the State Dept's Foreign Military Sales program. Needless to say, the Israelis and Americans see eye-to-eye on this stuff, for the most part. Also, Tel Aviv is quite a happening place and the State Dept makes sure to provide for a very comfortable lifestyle. If you have a few minutes, take a look at this 60 Minutes feature on Tel Aviv.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7409182n

He would have preferred to stay in Germany from a lifestyle POV, but there really isn't much field work going on there and he doesn't want to be a desk jockey at the headquarters in Wiesbaden.

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Feedback from friends of his (and mine who he knows) who have worked both places much preferred the work environment in Israel. In Belgium, Mons is located in Wallonia (the French part) and intergovernmental cooperation on American/NATO funded construction work there is complicated by the whole French vs. American culture thing. It's also a bit dreary and very expensive in Belgium.

In Israel, his job would be in support of the State Dept's Foreign Military Sales program. Needless to say, the Israelis and Americans see eye-to-eye on this stuff, for the most part. Also, Tel Aviv is quite a happening place and the State Dept makes sure to provide for a very comfortable lifestyle. If you have a few minutes, take a look at this 60 Minutes feature on Tel Aviv.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7409182n

He would have preferred to stay in Germany from a lifestyle POV, but there really isn't much field work going on there and he doesn't want to be a desk jockey at the headquarters in Wiesbaden.

Congrats Finn. Sounds like he's on a great career path. He'll miss the beer in Deutschland?

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by bhunter

Congrats Finn. Sounds like he's on a great career path. He'll miss the beer in Deutschland?

Somehow in his first 2 weeks there, he's made friends with the biggest distributor of Belgian beers in Israel - a chip of the old block. Apparently, the Belgian beers are quite popular there.

When I was there on a 2 week vacation back in the early '80's, pretty much the only beer was Maccabee, a local product. It was OK, but certainly not as good as German or Belgian beer.

[Boreas]

Come on, you two! Quit crapping on Pat's thread, to say nothing of his justifiable pride in his son.

John

[bobabode]

Congrats Pat.

[wgrr]

Congratulations to your son. I hope he gets to know the former first lady of a state and the US, a Senator, and now the Secretary of State.

I have known Hillary and Bill for many years. Hillary is one intelligent person. A fine person to know. I wish she would take time to visit here.

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by wgrr

Congratulations to your son. I hope he gets to know the former first lady of a state and the US, a Senator, and now the Secretary of State.

I have known Hillary and Bill for many years. Hillary is one intelligent person. A fine person to know. I wish she would take time to visit here.

I'll Skype him in a couple of days when we get back from Blacksburg, VA. We're down here in the hills for our youngest son's Freshman Orientation at Hokieland (Va Tech). Two down, one to go.

I think my oldest son probably was just invited to sit in the peanut gallery or be part of a State Dept meet-n-greet as his position there is supporting a State Dept program.